An excellent article by Erica Oberndorfer and a host of other experts describes the concept of ecoservices--for example how plant species within plant communities (vascular plants, not so much mosses or other bryophytes) provide support for each other as well as the roof environment. The basis for these benefits rests in part on biological diversity described by Jeremy Lundholm at St. Mary's University. Some of these services derive from a synergy with aspects of the building environment (where plants utilize runoff in the same way they would on screes, barrens or other quickly drained landscapes), removing contaminants from the runoff or providing a "home" for other (e.g., bryophyte) species and pollinators (e.g., moths, bees, wasps, flies). Work at a UMass Waltham research site and in Dorchester features experiments which have already begun to unravel involved and precious soil-plant relationships on roofs.
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